Art Professor’s ‘Green’ Bag Project Earns Growing Fan Base

Teresa Van Hatten-Granath, associate professor in the Art Department, held her first “Green Bag Lady Performance Event” this past Saturday in Green Hills, adding another 66 fabric bags to her growing list of giveaways while also obtaining local and regional media coverage. (Pictured from left to right are Van Hatten-Granath, her friend Alicia Steinhilber and Radio Free Nashville talk show host Dawn Kirk.)
Van Hatten-Granath, who primarily teaches digital imaging and photography at Belmont, began the Green Bag Lady project earlier this year in an effort to inspire artists to think about the ecological impact of their art as well as to produce work that has a direct, positive impact on the environment. “The project started one day I when was scolding my husband for getting plastic bags at the grocery. I decided to go through my fabric bins and I just started making bags. Eventually, I figured out what size worked best, and that is the size of the pattern I now give out as a PDF. I started by bringing the bags to the college kids in my classes and then my friends. It has just grown from there, and now it has taken on a life of its own.”
Her performance events involve setting up her sewing machine in public spaces and creating bags to giveaway to anyone who requests one. The only cost? The receiver of the free bag must promise to use them instead of paper or plastic. To date, Van Hatten-Granath has sent more than 600 fabric bags to 37 states and six foreign countries.
NBC sent a camera crew to Saturday’s event and footage aired on Nashville’s WMSV-4 as well as on affiliates in 20 different states and Canada.
For more information, visit www.greenbaglady.org.